The University of Massachusetts Medical School is beginning a search for a new chancellor. A year after former chancellor Aaron Lazare stepped down, the campus has formed a search committee to find a permanent replacement.
After finalists for the chancellor position are selected, President Jack Wilson will select a candidate for the position. His decision must be approved by the UMass Board of Trustees.
Chairman of the search committee is trustee member Philip Johnson, a former state legislator and gubernatorial cabinet secretary.
“I’m very enthusiastic about being on the committee,” said Johnson. “I want to promote the university.”
Johnson’s interest in participating in the search derives from his personal history in western Massachusetts.
“I am an alumnus, as is my wife and son,” he said. “We’re big UMass people. When Deval Patrick was elected governor, he asked me what I wanted to do. I said one thing I want to do is help UMass. Plus, my whole family is from Worcester, so I care about that part of the world.”
Johnson consults on health and human services issues as founder and president of Philip W. Johnson Associates, as well as serving as chairman of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation and of the Massachusetts Health Policy reform.
The search committee has one student member, Trustee Bharath Nath, who is in the MD-PhD program at UMass Medical. He was chosen to serve from a pool of students by the student government, in consultation with the university administration.
“I believe that any search process for university leadership will benefit from engagement of the student population,” said Nath, who is looking forward to participating in the search process.
Nath said he will be looking for character, leadership and a willingness to communicate in candidates in order to choose someone who will use those qualities to form a well-articulated vision for the university.
“I believe the most important role that we have as students on these committees is a communicative one,” Nath said. “We have to effectively communicate the concerns of students to the search committee members and be able to articulate student perspectives on the directions in which the university is headed to the candidates.”
He believes that this communicative role that student committee members serve – rather than bringing personal beliefs into the decision – is justification for not including other student members.
“I’d like to think that my role there is ideally to represent all our students, and I certainly hope that I can perform that role effectively,” he said.
UMass Medical researcher Craig Mello is serving as vice chair. His work with Andrew Fire was awarded a Nobel Prize in 2006.
UMass Medical School brings in $189 million in research funding annually, with 80 percent of that coming from federal sources.
The committee members were appointed by UMass Trustees Chairman Robert Manning, as well as his board colleagues and President Wilson. According to Johnson, the committee will have their first meeting in the beginning of April.
Caitlin Quinn can be reached at [email protected].
